Let’s leave Proposition 13 alone

I agree with Andrea Seastrand’s Viewpoint from March 16 (“Liberals have been attacking Proposition 13 for decades — but here's the truth,”) that we need to quit attacking Proposition 13. I witnessed my widowed mother leave her home in Santa Barbara and move out of the state in 1973 mostly because of arbitrarily high property taxes.

Passage of the proposition saved countless homeowners in the state from similar fates. One argument in favor of keeping the proposition in place that Seastrand failed to mention is the way municipalities circumvent it.

A case in point: If you live in Los Osos, on a property with a net assessed value of $276,268, the Proposition 13 rate for the 2017-18 annual tax bill is $2,762. With the additional eight combined bonds and projects added over the years, that tax bill becomes $5,043. Our state is collecting plenty from property taxes. It is becoming a real burden for both renters, who have taxes passed on to them, and homeowners.